Smithy

Yowza. I've learned so far, from wandering through the local TJMaxx, that Le Creuset also makes stoneware - lovely baking dishes, with a price that made me laugh with relief until I realized that it wasn't the enamelled cast iron in question. None of that happened to be around. I DID find a large black Chambra pot, with lid, with minor scuff marks. I thought of Fifi, the hypnotist, but didn't buy it. (Maybe if it's still there next weekend...) Then the investigation led to EBay, and that leads to my question. I seem to recall that LC imports were banned along about 197x because of FDA concerns about metals leaching from the glaze. I think cadmium in the reds and lead from the whites were the issues. The stuff wasn't imported here for some years, until LC reformulated the glaze. Does anyone here remember any more details? I'd hate to win a vintage LC on EBay only to poison myself and my guests with the lovely gratin. Edited to add: I found the article I was thinking of, here. Since the scare was apparently over the colored glazes, and LC has white, maybe LC wasn't the problem after all. I'm still curious about what other folks may know about the issue.

Am I correct in thinking these are satsuma mandarine oranges? If so, you can certainly dry or freeze the peel. Make sure to scrape the pith off first, or else just cut the zest off with a peeler. It does wonders for sauces and stews; just adds an extra piquant note, at once more tart and sweet than orange peel. I don't think our family could ever get enough of them, even with our own prolific tree. We put a lot of that fruit in fruit salad, and did a lot of jello back then (Jello, the food we love to hate!) and ate loads of the fruit out of hand. I'd do murder if I saw my fruit being used as artillary.

I don't know, this post could go as easily into the "When Cheaper is Just Fine" thread, but I'm putting it here. Following Behemoth's lead (from the Dinner thread?) I decided to buy a cheap mandoline and see how I liked it. Progressive International makes it. It's plastic, with a guillotine-angled straight steel blade. (I still think that makes the most sense, and Fifi's information supports those notions.) It has 4 gizmos that snap in and out to adjust the size of the cut, and a couple of are reversible so there are effectively 7 different slicing or grating options. All told, this mandoline will do 3 slicing thicknesses, coarse or fine grating, julienne cuts or French fry cuts. I've been playing with it, and am delighted, and far more impressed than I was with the $50 Zyliss V-slicer I tried recently. Nothing jams. It's easy to clean. Who knows how well it will hold up? But for the price I can keep using and replacing it, and may only need to do so once a year.... It cost $8 at Cub Foods! Use the finger guard. Even, or especially, if you're trying to get that last slice of pepper.

"I hate sugar," he yodels, "sugar is eevil!" He goes on to expound on the shortcomings of processed sugar: all the nutrients have been removed, and what's left is far worse than nothing. Home-made ice cream? Nope. Home-made pastries? Nope. They have that eeeevil sugar. Regular sugar is bad, bad, bad for one's health, even in small quantities. Then, it's time to make salad dressing. What goes into it? Cheap white balsamic vinegar. 'Uh, dear? Do you know how they made that vinegar so sweet, so cheap?'

I prefer to choose the wines myself. Unless you have a guest with excellent taste in wine who asks to bring something to compliment the meal, I would just say thank you for the wine and consider it a gift to drink at another time. Why take chances when you have already put such time and effort into your meal. ← Ha! I've had the host do that exact thing to me. I bring my very best bottle of wine - say, a high-quality Chianti for a wonderful Italian meal he plans - only to have him set it aside and serve his own bottle...some garden-variety low-end wine - Bonny Doon Ca del Sol, for instance, or white zinfandel...

This has been a terrific blog, on three counts: 1. Great food 2. Great scenery and photos (I've spent a bit of time in Seattle, including at Pike St Market, but not enough time) 3. Great romance. You two seem to have taken to heart one of my favorite sayings, from The Secret Garden: "Where you tend a rose, a thistle cannot grow." May you live long and in great health and love. Thank you for sharing your lives and food with us this week. Nancy

"Craptacular"!! I love it! One of my pet phrases is, or at least was until recently, "I'd serve this to company" when I'm especially pleased with a dish. I may have been over-using the expression, though: not long ago my DH asked me, "Exactly how often do you plan to have company, and how many dishes do you plan to feed them?!" A friend's father used to have the all-purpose expression, "this is something else!" The funniest example of his usage was when my friend's mother baked a cake for a birthday dinner, and it was obvious that the father didn't like it. He kept carrying on, "this is really something else" in tones of disapproval, until finally he asked where she'd gotten the birthday cake. She said, proudly, "I made it myself!" Immediately, his tone changed to enthusiastic approval. "Oh, wow!" he exclaimed, "this is really something else!"

Yesterday when I was cleaning out the fridge, I looked at a quart jar of chickpea juice (the cooking liquid left over from cooking them, that is). I'd been saving it for a week, not with any definite purpose in mind but thinking it would come in handy. In light of a recent discussion about not saving pasta water due to bugs growing in it, and because I hadn't thought of a use for it, I opened the jar and emptied it into the sink..and watched a beautiful, gelatinous liquid, almost as thick as my best thick chicken broth, disappear down the drain. I had no idea it had set up so much! It *must* have been useful for something, but I wasted it! What could I have done with that chickpea broth? What can I do with future chickpea broth, and how long can I save it?

I will never again start to butcher a deer (or any other large animal) without first sharpening the knives. And, for that matter, making sure I have a good way to hang the beast before getting it hoisted (OK, now that it's up, how do I keep it there?) Carumba, what a job. I will, next time, work out a better way to fend the puppy off during the butchering process....although, as I write this, the puppy is nearly comatose, and well worth a quiet evening. While I was fending him off I gave him less meat than he wanted but more than I thought wise. Assuming he is back to normal come morning, this state of distended animation is pretty funny.

My mother was really bummed when she learned this. I forget the medicine in question, but the instructions said specifically not to drink grapefruit juice. She questioned the doctor, and he thought that even one grapefruit's worth of juice was likely to cause problems. There they were, fine grapefruit tree in the yard, and she couldn't have any more of her favorite breakfast fruit.

One more thing before resuming the program! I just want to affirm that there is, indeed, an excellent Jamaican restaurant in Gilbert, of all places. If you ever manage to set aside enough time, plan to go eat at The Whistling Bird. Great food, in a very unlikely spot (Jamaican chef married a Range girl, and they moved back up here eventually). If you're very lucky you'll get to meet the chef, who likes to come schmooze with the customers. Listening to him describe the meals is a sensual experience, worthy of anything you'll see in the best food blogs here! And the place is so hot that reservations are recommended if you don't want to wait in the bar too long for a table. OK, now I'm done. I still want to learn more about what people save! I'm learning lots here, and I found the schmaltz threads, too.

Ohhhh, I got home too late to eat anything more elaborate than cheese and wine, all the while fending off 4 kittens and a puppy. Now here I am, looking at your feast (with only 1 kitten), full, tired, but darned envious. What a lovely dinner! I'm going to have to try that! <quick, where's the drooling emoticon? >

I'll answer this one. Da Up is that part of Michigan ABOVE the lake. ← Well, er, that depends on which lake you mean. The Upper Peninsula, fondly known as the UP (pronounced " Da Yoop") is indeed that part of Michigan north of Lake Michigan, but it's on the south shore of Lake Superior. If one imagines Lake Superior to be a wolf's head (facing left, mouth every so slightly open, just readying itself to swallow another ship - sorry, but it IS the anniversary of the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, and I did need to work in something to do with eating) the UP is along the wolf's throat. I live just above the nose, and work up toward the eye. If you go inland just a little bit, you'll be on the Iron Range, fondly known as Da Raynche. Culturally similar to da UP, come to think of it, but don't tell that to the natives.

What? Not even with the bumper? His car must not be new enough to be a deer magnet any more. Anyway, great topic! Frittata isn't something I've done much, so I'm looking forward to learning more about it.

I love this idea. I'm forever sneaking bits of the scum that floats to the top when I'm clarifying butter, and then savoring the bottom bits, but I never thought of saving them and actually adding them to something I'm cooking. We're going to be needing another freezer!

Well, until relatively recently I threw out bacon fat because I was no longer cooking with it, unless it was coming straight off the bacon I was cooking at the time. I've seen the light now, and once again keep some around. I have never saved, much less cooked with, schmaltz. (I must admit that even as I write this I envision whirling around the kitchen, waving my spatula, Friml playing in the background.) When and how do y'all cook with schmaltz? What do people use it with?

I love the cat, too. My cat might look that intent, but the kittens would be all over the drinks and food, tipping them over,... "Very retro?" Come up here to northern Minnesota and say that! Unless you're referring to the actual tray itself, in which case I might agree.... Those relishes, particularly the pickled herring, are standard stock in our salad bars! So, you might say Oceanaire is being true to its Minnesota roots! Added to say: I too am loving this blog!

Ok, here's a somewhat related question. Some food safety experts these days seem to think that no precaution is too small. I have heard credible sources say not to leave the mayonnaise jar out on the counter for the half hour it takes you to eat lunch, and to put cooked foods into the refrigerator within 1/2 hour of cooking them. (That last precaution makes me wonder how one is supposed to keep the refrigerator cold, but that's another story.) To what level do you take your own personal precautions, in your kitchen? Do you have a 'line' defining the difference between reasonably safe and overly cautious?

<looks around for waffling emoticon> Well, my favorite onion-and-sorrel panade DOES call for a flameproof casserole dish... ← BWAHAHAHAHA! Did I mention up-thread that the cast iron gratins are without equal? When I got one at Jeffery Steingarten's urging in his essay on potatoes daupinoise, I fell in love with gratins. You know the old saying... "If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail." For a while there, I was gratining (is that a verb?) everything in sight. ← Fifi, is that essay somewhere on eGullet? I went back upthread looking for a link, and then looked at his Q&A, and didn't see the essay (or a link). If not, do you remember where you read that essay? Edited for clarification.

How about a grilled bacon, lobster and warm peanut butter sandwich? ← Sounds messy. What about deep frying it instead? After all, Elvis' favorite sandwich was a deep-fried banana and peanut butter sandwich...I bet he just never thought of putting bacon into it too...

I haven't weighed in on this because I don't have any manufacturer's recommendations, or sources. I do have one practical suggestion, though: if you're into haunting estate sales and auctions, you may be able to land a wonderful old set, with its evidently superior workmanship, at a bargain price. That's how I got the silver service that I'll use until (and if) I inherit my parents' set...and even then, I may keep the stuff I have now. It takes patience, though, and may not be your thing.

That reminds me, I have jars as well as freezer bags with zest collected from oranges and mandarin oranges when I get fresh ones in the winter. I haven't tried candying them. They make nice additions to sauces, but all too often I forget they're there. Corn cobs! I haven't tried that! My poor husband...

I was taught years ago that most of the "heat" in hot peppers is in the seeds, and that one can reduce the heat somewhat by leaving the seeds out of a dish. That has matched my experience: after blistering my tongue when I sauteed just a few chili pepper seeds in oil and then cooked with the oil, I learned to saute just a few sections of the pepper itself. Recently I read somewhere (probably on EGullet) that this isn't true, along with an implication that it's been debunked for some time. Have I been living under a rock all this time? Where's the heat?

Mr. McGee, please allow me to add my thanks and welcome to all the others' on this Forum. Have you done any research on the raw food movement, or its underlying principles? If so, what do you think of it/them? I've read the assertion that enzymes needed for digestion start to break down above 118oF, and therefore we shouldn't eat things heated above that temperature. I remain skeptical, both because it doesn't sound like much fun and because it seems to counter almost everything in the human experience. I'd be curious to know your take on it.

<looks around for waffling emoticon> Well, my favorite onion-and-sorrel panade DOES call for a flameproof casserole dish... ← BWAHAHAHAHA! Did I mention up-thread that the cast iron gratins are without equal? When I got one at Jeffery Steingarten's urging in his essay on potatoes daupinoise, I fell in love with gratins. You know the old saying... "If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail." For a while there, I was gratining (is that a verb?) everything in sight. ← <Fifi sets the hook> Damn, that's what I've been cooking lately! I discovered some great gratin recipes recently, and the only thing that's been getting me away from it is the Cajun thread.